Who was the historical Jesus? For some recent New Testament scholars, he was a reformer who, in mingling with the poor, healing lepers and preaching to the outcast, deliberately flouted Jewish purity lawsand the Temple system associated with themattacking these laws as perpetuating social, economic and gender distinctions. Instead of a politics of purity, Jesus brought a politics of compassion. But that argument is flawed, according to Paula Fredriksen in Did Jesus Oppose the Purity Laws? The scholars who subscribe to this theory completely fail to understand the Jewish purity system, she points out, for neither sin nor social stigma attached to impurity. Indeed, Jesus may have ritually cleansed himself before entering the Temple, thus paying respect to ancient Judaisms most sacred siteradically changing our understanding of the historical Jesus.